The Sorry State
by SesJay
Summary: House has to save Cameron's life, will she survive? Will House admit his feelings? Will Cameron? Will it make any difference?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 –This Is Going To Hurt

Allison Cameron pushed open the glass doors of the hospital and stepped into the dark, she hated this time of year. Waking up before the sun rose and then watching it set hours before her working day ended.

The hospital parking lot was bathed in the fake orange glow from the street lights. She wrapped her coat tighter around herself, trying to block out the rain. Winter had crept up on everyone this year. Last week she had been wearing a light jacket and the trees still had leaves. It had looked pretty, the oranges and browns making the evenings seem warm and inviting. Then last night the wind had got up and by this morning, the leaves had fallen and lain in the streets like golden crunchy snow. Now the rain had turned the leaves soggy and everything just looked wet and untidy.

The rain was getting worse, sticking her fringe to her forehead. She passed her boss's, parking space and was relieved to see he had driven his car this morning. This was not the weather to be racing around on his motorbike. It was inevitable that he would come off it at some point. She chastised herself for caring about House. She pressed the button on her key fob and got into her car. She was cold and soaking wet even though she had only walked 100 meters.

She turned up the heaters and sat in the car for a few moments waiting for the mist to clear off the windshield. She didn't want to go home. It was lonely there, and whatever she did to it, she could still feel her husband there. She would have to move out but deep down she liked the memories even if they hurt, and whatever House implied she hadn't only loved Billy because he was damaged and about to die.

The rain was making it difficult to see. The wet road was reflecting all the lights so all she could see were spots of light and the incessant rain. The wipers weren't doing much good and she found herself blindly following the lights of the car in front. It was hypnotic the swish swish of the wipers and the pounding of the rain.

She sped up as they joined the freeway. The spray off the road was nearly as bad as the rain, and she was still cold. She wished her car would heat up faster, she wished the radio would work and her mind wandered to whether she had enough savings to buy a new car. This one was long past its best. Suddenly the red brake lights of the car in front flashed in front her. The lights turned into long thin red blurs as they reflected on the wet road. She put her foot on the brake and looked in her rear view mirror to make sure the car behind was doing the same. She pressed her foot down harder as the red fender of the car in front came closer and closer.

The car wasn't slowing down faster enough. The red car was getting closer and closer. "Fuck" Cameron said out loud as she heard a sickening crunch. The red car came to a stop as she heard glass and plastic shatter and break. It had hit the car in front of it. Her car wasn't going to stop either. All she could see was rain and the lights of the red car getting closer and brighter. She tried to relax knowing she was less likely to get hurt if she wasn't tensed up. She couldn't, her foot was so hard on the pedal she thought it might go through the floor. She closed her eyes, knowing that there was nothing she could do but wait for the bang. It seemed to be taking forever for the collision to happen. She looked down at the speedometer, she was still doing 30. This is going to hurt she thought as the air bag went off with a bang, forcing her back. The car came to a stop the front of it embedded into the red car. The engine cut out as she felt another car plow into her from behind, forcing her forwards, the air bag now a useless bit of fabric. The seatbelt jammed tight squeezing the air out of her lungs but still she felt her chest hit the steering wheel and then the world disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 –The Escape

There was someone was getting in the car, Cameron heard the door creaking open. She cried out in pain as the weight of the stranger getting into the car moved the steering wheel which was acting as a pillow. "Sorry" an English accent said.

Cameron opened her eyes. It was more of a struggle than she had expected every part of her hurt. She daren't move. The pressure of her chest against the steering wheel felt weirdly reassuring, every breath created a sharp pain across her chest. The person was in the car now. He had climbed into the passenger seat and was reaching towards her.

"My name's Laurie," he said as she felt a big warm hand start to examine her. "I'm a paramedic" he said holding her neck with both hands and slowly and ever so gently sat her upright. The pain was excruciating, she couldn't breathe it hurt so bad. The world was going fuzzy again and she tried to focus on Laurie's face but there was blood pouring into her eyes, making everything a distressing pink color. She closed her eyes again, concentrating on breathing, there didn't seem to be enough room in her lungs.

"What's your name, love?" Laurie was asking her, as he fastened a plastic brace around her neck and then pressed a large sterile dressing against the wound on her head.

"Allison Cameron" she whispered. It shocked her that just saying her name seemed to take away her breath. Laurie put a mask over her face, and smiled warmly.

"Don't worry we'll have you out of this mess in a bit, just try to breath normally." She tried and the oxygen helped slightly her head became a little clearer as Laurie started pressing his fingers against her chest. She groaned and her breathing quickened. She knew this was bad, if it were broken ribs the oxygen would have helped, and at the moment the pain was getting worse.

Laurie was now shining a flash light looking down at her legs. She hadn't even thought about her legs, she was too concerned with the pain in her chest. She put her hand to her head, her hair was sticky. Touching the large dressing, she felt her blood on her fingers, a wave of nausea flowed over her and her breathing went shallow and fast. Her head didn't hurt but there was an awful lot of blood. Her thoughts suddenly moved to House, cutting himself so he didn't have to feel the pain in his leg. The worst pain will drown out any other pain. Head wounds always bleed a lot she said to herself, hoping her legs weren't cut up in the same way.

She took a deep breath and couldn't let it out as a pain ripped into her left side. She let the breath go in tiny little puffs. The world was looking a bit hazy and she could hear rushing in her ears. The pain wasn't getting any better.

"I'm gonna get a doctor in here to have a look. " Laurie said.

"I am a doctor" Cameron said idly as she felt the car lift as he got out. She cried out again as the pain seemed to get worse. Her eyes kept closing, she knew she had to keep awake, but the pain was too great and it hurt to breath.

The world went black and then swam back into focus. There was someone different sat beside her now, a vaguely remembered face; a doctor at Plainboro. He had hooked her up to a drip. The bag of fluids had been taped to roof of her car.

Cameron didn't move for a few moments just taking in what had happened, what was happening. She could see the paramedics in the car in front dealing with someone in the back seat. Her chest hurt. Every breath was difficult.

"Hello," the doctor said calmly "this will help with the pain, while the firemen do their stuff" She just sat there and let him push the needle into her arm. She didn't even register the pain. The rest of the pain was far worse. Just breathing seemed like a chore. She closed her eyes and heard a deep voice tell her that they were going to cut the top off the car so they could get her out. The painkillers were working, she felt numb, but still it was so hard to breath. She screamed out as they cut into the car. The loudness of her own voice scared her. However carefully they did it there was no way they could do it without jolting the car. The doctor was still sat besides her watching her making sure she was ok.

She had to buy a new car now she thought as they lifted the roof away and she could feel the cold rain on her head. Each bead of rain felt like a bullet against her. The pain was coming back the pain killers were wearing off already. She could only manage tiny breaths, her head was swimming again.

English guy was sat beside her again. "This is going to hurt, sorry" he said as she felt his hands move under her. As his colleague did the same on her other side she felt as if her legs had been torn off and thought it better if she succumbed to the darkness for a while.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Overtime

House was sat in his office; the others had left hours ago. He was listening. His leg propped up on the table, eyes closed, music blaring into his ears and his right hand playing air piano on the desk top. He felt his pocket vibrate. He ignored it. At this time in the evening it would only be bad news and it was just getting to the good bit.

"House!" Some one was screaming at him. He opened his eyes and found Cuddy staring at him.

"Yes?" he said pushing his headphones off his head and around his neck.

"Please come down into ER, there's been a 6 car wreck and everyone is caught up in the traffic," he looked at her in disgust like a teenager looking at his Mom after being told he wasn't allowed out. He moved his leg onto the floor and stood up. She sighed. "I'll let you off clinic duty tomorrow if you help".

House hobbled towards Cuddy and stared at her breasts. "Your mummy is silly, thinking I would rather deal with boring cuts and brakes, than trying to figure out why little Johnny keeps sneezing".

Cuddy grinned. "2 days off clinic, if you come and help." She was almost pleading.

House was enjoying this. He picked up his cane and walked towards the door.

"As long as I can pick who I treat." Cuddy looked at him incredulously as he left the room, knowing full well that was exactly what he would do.

The ER was crowded. Seemed like everyone had decided to get sick or injured on the same night. The nurses and doctors that were rushing around looked slightly harassed. House walked slowly to the nurse's station, lent across the counter and picked up the pile of files. He glanced at each one briefly then threw it back at the nurse who was scowling at him.

House was enjoying irritating the nurse and with each file he threw at her he changed the force he used. She didn't say anything, just glared at him and struggled to catch each file.

House found one that looked interesting and stopped to read more, when he heard someone shout. Turning round he saw a gurney surrounded by staff being rushed towards them. He took out the little orange bottle from his jacket, popped off the lid and swallowed one as he watched the urgency on the doctors and paramedics face as they struggled to attend to the woman as they were running through the hospital. As the gurney got closer his stomach lurched, and the all knowing smile fell from his face, it was Cameron they were treating.

----------------------------------------------------

Cameron opened her eyes, this time she was being pushed though the hospital, the bland white lights flashing over her. She closed her eyes again it was better just to concentrate on breathing. Suddenly she had stopped moving, she could hear people rushing around her, hooking her up to machines. She could hear the beeping of her heart monitor. It was rather fast, to be expected she thought, considering the amount of blood loss. Someone was asking her to open her eyes, to tell them where it hurt. She knew she should answer but the pain in her left side was getting worse her breathing was fast and slow regardless of the oxygen. She could hear her heart monitor beeping frantically. She felt cold metal against her leg and knew someone was cutting away her pants to get a better look at her leg. She couldn't even feel the pain in her legs. This is really bad she thought as someone forced open her eye and shone a bright light into it.

"Allison, do you know where you are?" a voice asked.

What a silly question she thought. "At work," she replied sleepy without opening her eyes. The pain was reaching a peak.

"Where does it hurt?" the voice asked again, this time she didn't reply all the came from her lips was a groan.

Someone was pressing gently at her chest and stomach. The fingers touched just below her left rib and it felt like someone had reached inside her and ripped out her insides, she didn't have room in her lungs to scream out properly. Her face contorted in pain and she opened her eyes to see a doctor being pushed heavily out of the way by a limping House.

"Move!" the very familiar voice shouted. Why was House in ER she thought, but still she didn't open her eyes. It hurt more with her eyes open. She was sure. She could feel hands moving over her body pressure being applied to her legs and her head. Her heart rate was still too fast, her breathing too shallow. Why wasn't the oxygen working?

"Cameron" House shouted. He was right on top of her. She forced her eyes open, House looked down at her, concern etched deep into his face. He said something to her but he said it so fast each word blurred into the next. They didn't make any sense to Cameron. She looked into his sharp blue eyes and shook her head., "Where does it hurt most" he tried again, slower. This time she caught the meaning but before she could decide on an answer and say, she could suddenly taste blood. She coughed and she felt it spray out of her mouth. "Fuck" she heard House yell before there was nothing else.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Why?

"She'll be okay", Wilson said sliding his hands into the pockets of his white coat and looking at House.

House looked sideways at his friend. He raised his eyebrows in silence and went back to staring down through the glass panel into the operating theatre.

"You can't say that yet," House said seriously, leaning hard on his cane. Wilson didn't know how to reply because deep down he knew House was right. They couldn't be sure that she would be ok. There was a lot of internal bleeding. Her left lung had been punctured that was for sure.

The pair stared down into the operating theatre. House thought Cameron looked so small laid on the table. He had never seen her naked and now he was staring at her naked form, he felt nothing sexual from it, just the coldness of dread as he watched the surgeon with his hands inside the bloody incision that had been made across the upper part of her abdomen. He looked away and stared instead at the monitors, her heart rate was steady but her SATs were slightly low.

He watched as the surgeon dealt with the deflated lung and could hear the sucking of the machinery that was draining the blood from where it shouldn't be. There was too much blood in her stomach cavity for it to just be a punctured lung.

Wilson put a hand on House's shoulder, "I have an appointment with a patient. Let me know the minute anything happens." He turned and left House staring worriedly at the action below.

-------------------------------------------

"The operation was successful," Cuddy said gently to the pale and nervous looking young man, he kept touching his nose as he listened to what the doctor was saying.

They were stood outside the glass fronts to one of the ICU wards. "The lung should heal nicely, but there is a greater risk of complications because we had to remove the spleen as well. Allison's not out of the woods yet, but things are looking better than last night" She smiled. She didn't enjoy telling relatives things like this and it was only made worse by the fact that the patient was someone who worked under her, someone she talked to everyday. To compound the matter the young man in front of her looked like a male version of Cameron, his dark hair as shiny as hers but short instead of long and they had the same eyes.

Cuddy pushed open the glass door and led the man into Cameron's room. House was sat in a chair beside her bed his leg propped up on a stool and his PSP in his hands. He looked up as Cuddy and the stranger entered.

"Dr House, I'd like you to meet Allison's twin Adrian," Cuddy said her voice sounding more professional than it normally did when she was talking to House.

House nodded and went back to his game. Adrian moved towards his sister. House looked up at him, and saw the man's eyes fill with tears. He wondered why Cameron had never said she had a twin. That made her interesting just as much as her love of damaged people.

House watched as Adrian took hold of his sister's hand and stared at all the wires and tubes coming from her body.

"No change then?" Cuddy asked House.

"I upped her morphine a few minutes ago" House replied not looking up from his game.

"Is she in pain?" Adrian said looking alarmed.

"Not anymore," House grinned and Cuddy looked suspiciously at the morphine drip beside Cameron, the dose was high but not too high.

"Why is she still a sleep?" Adrian asked not taking his eyes from his sister. House shrugged.

"You told me on the phone that she would be awake by the time my plane arrived," he was almost pleading with the two doctors as if it was their fault.

"We just need to let her body rest, the coma is the body's way of coping with the trauma of the accident, your sister had massive injuries, and major surgery it's just taking a little longer than we had hoped." Cuddy replied.

House hated conversations like this and was pretty certain he had a patient somewhere, so he stood up slowly. He rested his hand on his aching thigh and reached for cane before heading for the door.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N : Thanks for all the great reviews! Limaccia: I total agree House needs to respond so I changed it a bit. (Also changed "Allison" to Cameron as the sudden change in name felt wrong) Hope you like it.

Chapter 5-Awake

It was very quiet. There was a constant rhythmic beeping from beside her. She felt tired, her whole body felt odd. Her legs felt like they were cased in lead. Her head throbbed, her chest felt heavy. She opened her eyes slowly, very slowly. The harsh light made the white walls seem brighter. She wasn't in her own bed. She was at work, why was she sleeping at work?

"Oh God, the crash." She tried to sit up, there were wires everywhere. She only got as far as lifting her shoulders off the crisp pale blue sheets when she had to give up; she was too weak. Cameron groaned a little as her head hit the pillow again and she closed her eyes. She heard movement from the corner of the room. She felt warm hands fuss around her chest moving wires. They moved away and she heard a series of beeps as someone altered the medication that was being pumped into her. She opened her eyes and this time just turned her head to see who was attending to her. It was House. She grinned, his back was toward her and as he turned, she could see he looked slightly more warn around the edges than normal. Like he hadn't slept all night and he'd run out of vicodin.

"You're pathetic" she whispered.

"I just needed somewhere to hide from Cuddy and you were the hottest coma patient in the hospital," He smiled gently. He so rarely smiled, but when he did she could see the cheekiness there and the kindness that was hidden just beneath the pain and hurt.

For what felt like minutes House just stood there watching her. She looked back at him trying to figure out whether what he had said was his normal sarcastic manner or something else. He was watching her breathe. His brain was purely focused on the medicine, Cameron thought as she watched him hobble to her side. He took a penlight out of his pocket and shone it into her eyes then ordered her to sleep. Those few moments of conscious had worn her out.

---------------------------------------

"But Doctor, is there no hope? Is she really going to die?" a woman said from somewhere in the room. Cameron felt groggy and kept her eyes closed for a moment and hoped the woman wasn't talking about her. She wasn't sure. Maybe she was going to die. "I'm not going to die," she thought and opened her eyes as if in defiance of the woman's statement.

"I'm sorry" a man said, "There's nothing more we can do but send her home so she can die in peace."

Cameron pushed herself into a sitting position. She moaned as a pain ran deep into her left side. She looked up and saw the voices had been coming from the TV, which was tuned into General Hospital. "Ahh," a voice said "You're awake". She turned to see House sat in a chair with his lunch laid out across his lap. He picked up his lunch and set it on the table behind him and stood up.

House started pressing buttons on the monitors beside her. She didn't say anything just watched him. When she had first started working for him she would watch him a lot. It was something House hadn't failed to notice. He noticed everything about Cameron. Ever since he interviewed her for the job he knew she was something special, not that he would ever admit it.

"What happened to me?" Cameron asked gently prodding at herself. He left leg was in plaster, no wonder it felt heavy she thought.

House perched on the side of the bed. "Two broken ribs, a punctured lung, a ruptured spleen."

"Did they remove it?" Cameron said looking concerned.

"I hadn't finished the list," House said sounding hurt that she had interrupted. "Fractured femur, deep head wound and multiple cuts and bruises. Now you may ask questions."

"So they removed my spleen?" she asked again.

"Yes, You'll be fine" he replied and as he said it he placed his hand on her arm and squeezed gently. Cameron looked at him not sure if she was imagining things. Their eyes met for a few seconds and there was that electricity that always seemed to spark between again. Cameron felt it every time and wondered if House felt the same tingling feeling she was.

House blew air into his cheeks making them puff out and without his eyes leaving hers or his hand leaving her arms he pushed the air into each cheek one at a time. It was like he was thinking of something to say thought Cameron but he couldn't. He let the air out of his mouth, then got up and limped out.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Just Too Hot.

Cameron had been in hospital for 5 days now. House came in every lunch time and they talked about nothing in particular: The current case the team were working on, what Chase and Foreman had been doing. She found it interesting as Chase would come and visit her before his shift and tell her his side of the stories. What she wanted most was to get out of the bed; to see something other than the 3 blank walls and the same people walking past the glass front to her room.

She looked down at the cast on her leg and groaned inwardly. If she was going anywhere it was going to be on crutches or in a wheel chair. She didn't want either. She remembered back to when she had been 12 and had broken her leg and loved the attention she got when she turned up at school on crutches. The idea of everyone staring at here now filled her with dread.

Cameron had already had the physio come in and re-taught her how to use the crutches that morning and they were propped up in the corner of the room. She took a deep breath and slid her feet off the bed. Her stomach ached and her right leg felt heavy from the cast. She put her good leg onto the cold hard floor and slide off the bed reaching for the crutches as she did so. So far so good she thought as she put the crutches on each arm and took a first step. She was glad the morphine was yet to wear off. She pulled her dressing gown round here and took a deep breath.

She went through the door backwards pushing it open with her ass, and slowly started down the hall. She was only the floor above the diagnostic board room and decided to head for there. She concentrated on walking, each step followed by the click, click of the crutches. A few of the nurses she knew smiled at her as she passed but no one stopped her. She was glad. She wanted to sit down, her hands were starting hurt and her chest was aching. She wouldn't sit in the corridor, she wanted to hide. She made it to the elevators and was relieved as the door opened straight away.

She stepped inside and learnt against the wall. The 15 steps she had taken from her room to here had worn her out. She took a deep breath; coughed slightly and realised she was sweating. She wasn't going to go back to her room. She hated giving up. The doors opened and she looked out onto the empty corridor and wondered for the first time what time it was. As she started walking towards the glass fronted office she realised it must be later than she thought, the hospital was nearly deserted. She could see that it was dark outside but that meant nothing this time of year it could be 4 o'clock in the afternoon. She stopped just outside the boardroom. It was empty. She closed her eyes as the ache became more of a constant pain. The pain seemed to have moved it was higher up. It didn't worry her too much; she did feel like she had run a marathon.

She took the final 3 steps and pushed open the door of Houses office. House was sat in the comfy chair in the corner of the room. His feet propped up on the footstool in front of him. His eyes were closed. She wasn't sure if he was asleep or just thinking. The pain in her stitches was getting worse and she was exhausted. She hobbled across the room and sat in the other chair, laying the crutches on the floor. She put her hand to the wound in on her stomach and wished she had thought to bring the little pot of painkillers that were sat beside her bed. The pain subsided a little and she realised that House was asleep. He was snoring very gently.

She grinned around the pain, thinking that she should really get back to her bed. She was so tired that she thought it better just to sit here for a bit. She must have fallen asleep herself for a while but House was still asleep when she opened her eyes. She still wasn't feeling too good. She watched him for a while. It was nice to see him looking so peaceful.

She thought about the time they went to see the monster trucks how much he had made her laugh and the way he looked at her with those bright blue, curious eyes. She wondered whether they would ever enjoy each others company like that again. She was woken from her day dream by a fit of coughing. This isn't right she thought, and realised she was still sweating.

The coughing had woken House and he opened his eyes and looked towards her. The coughing had stopped but her breathing was still laboured. House stood up and walked towards her. He put a hand on her forehead.

"You're burning up." He said matter-of-factly. "How long have you been sat here?" he said lifting her arm and looking at his watch to take her pulse.

Cameron didn't reply. She was shivering now. "You're an idiot" he said, reaching across her to grab the phone. Once he had spoken quickly to someone and put the phone down he leant over Cameron and undid the cord on her dressing gown.

"Oh House" Cameron moaned softly as leant her forward and gently and took the gown off completely. Where were those orderlies House wondered as he laid her back into the chair and lifted up the pale green t-shirt she was wearing to examine the wound. It looked fine, no redness or bleeding.

Her skin was pale and clammy, her temperature was extremely high. "I love you House," she mumbled. House stopped his fingers resting on the wound.

"Your temperature must be extremely high, you're delirious." He said pulling down her t shirt as the orderlies burst in with a wheel chair. House tutted loudly at them and followed them as they headed to the elevator. They got in and the orderly pressed the up button.

"Don't take her back to her room you idiot," House shouted at the orderly. The guy looked a little confused as House stuck his cane out and pressed the down button. "She needs ice, ER has more ice than where she was."

The orderly seemed to realise the emergency of the situation and rushed out of the elevator, once it had reached its destination, shouting "We need to cool her down quick!"

House hobbled as quickly as he could behind them as the duty doctor took over. Cameron was lifted onto a bed and ice was poured over her pale form. House was left leaning on the wall watching. Again he felt scared. Had it been the fever talking when she had said she loved him? He admitted he was useless at this stuff and watched as drugs and fluids were hooked up to Cameron. He took the little orange bottle from his pocket and knocked back two of the pills. No one was watching him; they were busy trying to get Cameron's temperature down. House was more concerned with what had caused it. Her heart rate was becoming normal again and House closed his eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 - Sorry

House was sat in his office. He sighed. He couldn't concentrate. The pain in his leg had been getting worse the last few days, and he knew he had been taking too much Vicodin than was healthy.

He could not get the image of one of his ducklings curled up shivering in the chair he was now sitting in. He could see her in his mind, pale and very sick, wearing nothing but a thin pair of pyjamas and a dressing gown. All he could hear was the shaky sound of her voice saying "I love you House." It played over and over in his mind as he remembered how vulnerable she had looked. He picked up the giant tennis ball and squeezed it.

Lots of thoughts were whizzing round his head. She's too young for me, but he also imagined her lying next to him in his bed; her soft body curled up against his. Why would she want a man who is old enough to be her father? "Hell," thought House, "I could be her father". He realised he knew nothing about her family other than she had a twin. House had done a lot of stuff whilst he was in the band, he was already pretty sure he had one daughter it wouldn't have surprised him if he had a few more scattered across the country. He dismissed the idea quickly, his thoughts moving to Cameron walking into the office they all shared wearing one of those little waistcoats that made her look so sexy. She didn't have Cuddy's breasts but everything else was perfect. He threw the ball against the wall.

He thought back to that day when she had kissed him. At first he couldn't believe it was happening, then the passion over took him and he kissed her back. For ten glorious seconds she was the whole of his world nothing else mattered. Then he had seen her hand slide into her pocket and pull out the empty syringe. It wasn't love or even lust she was just using his feelings to get a blood sample. Or was it? There was something there. There always had been. They had been on dates before. He knew he had been a jerk when they had gone out for that meal. He had been so harsh towards her, but deep down he knew that it had been a front, he hadn't wanted her to know how much he cared.

He would go and pay her a visit in a few moments. The fever had gone down and she was apparently awake. House had shouted at the poor nurse who was looking after her, demanding that he be paged the moment she wakes. Her fever wasn't even medically interesting, just a chest infection. His mind wondered for a second wondering if she was always going to be off work sick, removing the spleen reduced the body's ability to fight off infections before they took hold. Who cares, he thought, at least she is alive. He stood up grimacing as he put weight on his bad leg and headed to the elevator.

-----------------------------------------

House stopped just short of her room, and looked around. Why did he feel so nervous? There was no one around. He slid open the door to find Cameron asleep. There weren't any monitors hooked up to her any more. It just looked like she was sleeping. He pulled up a stool beside her bed and sat down, hooking his cane on the arm of the bed. He picked up her file from the bottom of the bed and looked over it briefly, before nodding and putting it back. He watched her for a while, he could see her chest rising and falling as she breathed. She looked so pretty he thought, even when her face was void of makeup. House pushed a stray bit of hair out of her sleeping face, she shifted slightly.

His face was close to hers, he could feel her breath against his stubbly face. "Did you mean it?" he whispered.

"Mmmm" she replied. Her eyes still firmly shut.

He put his hand on her cheek. Her skin was soft against his fingers. "You said you loved me," his fingers traced a gentle pattern on her cheek. He felt Cameron press her face into his hand and he stopped moving his fingers and just cupped her face in his hands. "I love you too" he said. Things like this were a lot easier when the receiver of your words was asleep. He leant over and kissed Cameron on the forehead, "I'm sorry if I've been a jerk" he almost whispered to her.

He sat there just staring at her for a while, he didn't notice Wilson walking stopping at the door for a few seconds taking in the scene of his best friend looking at Cameron. He hadn't seen that look on Houses face for a long, long time. The last time he had seen it was the week after Stacy had left him. He had had that lost puppy looking face, and it worried Wilson. He decided that he would talk to House later and walked on down the corridor towards the clinic.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – Why?

Cameron was sat up in bed, her brother sat beside her, tapping away on a laptop that was balanced on his lap. She felt 100, and once again wanted to get out of the hospital. She felt like she had been at work for weeks and wondered what state her apartment was in seeing as her brother had taken up residence there.

She was thinking about what had happened the day before, she had been in that strange state between sleep and waking, she thought she had heard House come in and sit beside her. She thought she had heard him say he loved her. She thought he had kissed her. But it was probably a dream. A dream she liked the idea of a lot. She didn't know why she liked him so much, he was old enough to be her Dad, but his eyes were so beautiful. But he was a jerk, she loved the way he always had a clever remark. She thought about him playing the piano just for her, when the door opened and the man himself stepped in.

He grinned sheepishly at her as he entered. She smiled back, was it her or did he seem slightly embarrassed. Adrian looked up from his laptop as house grabbed a stool with the hook of his cane and pulled it beside him.

"Hey," he said to the pair. The resemblance between the two was remarkable. House wondered if they finished each others sentences. Now that would be cool.

"Hey," Cameron said questioningly, as her brother just looked at House and nodded hello.

House leaned towards Adrian trying to see what he had on his screen.

"You watch porn with your brother?" House asked faking a look of disgust.

"You're not are you!" Cameron said looking shocked at her brother. House and Adrian laughed.

"Ally, you're gullible sometimes, it's nothing but code" Adrian said turning the computer around, and showing her the screen.

"Maybe it's geek porn!" House said, but he looked interested in what Adrian had on the screen. He's interested in everything, Cameron thought and before she knew it had added that to her reasons she loved him.

The three of them sat in silence for a while. Adrian was engrossed in his programming and House was watching him. Cameron remembered something her brother had said about writing software like being a giant logic puzzle, and how the moment he had found the problem and figured out how to fix it, the actual writing of the code was the boring bit. She realized House was a lot like her brother, and wondered if House had been a closet geek. She found herself wondering what he was like as a kid, but remembered the guitar and piano, and knew he had been one of the kids that lived in the music rooms.

She suddenly wanted to hear all his stories, his stories of being at school, of being in a band of the things he got up to at College. She wanted to tell him her secrets too, she wanted to tell him about the adventures she had as a Girl Scout. How she had once drunk so much at a party she had passed out and woke up to find someone had shaved off her eyebrows. She wanted to share everything with him.

Adrian looked between House and his sister. "I need to check this in," he said, closing the lid and standing up. House looked from Adrian to Cameron as Adrian left the room without saying anything.

"Isn't he going to say goodbye?" House said pulling his chair closer to her bed.

"He's coming back" she said. House was once again drawn to the whole sibling closeness thing, he didn't know what it was like to have been so close to somebody that you knew exactly what they were going to do, just by what they said or didn't say.

House was looking carefully at Cameron. He had a sudden urge to kiss her. He sighed and pushed the thought to the back of his head, but pulled his stool closer to the bed. Cameron smiled gently at the other doctor, he smiled back.

"You don't smile enough" Cameron said. House's smile grew, and Cameron wondered for a second if he was laughing at her. He felt his leg give a sudden twinge and his face contorted for a second and his right hand shot to his thigh to try and relieve the spasm as his left hand pulled out the vial of pills.

"Are you ok?" Cameron asked sitting forward and looking concerned.

"You care too much about people," He replied. "You nearly died earlier this week, and you're more concerned about me!"

Cameron bit her bottom lip, knowing what she was going to say next would be awkward. "I care about you." House stared at her. Their eyes locked and he felt as if Cameron was opening up her soul to him through her eyes. "I care about you a lot."

House stood up and for a second Cameron thought he was going to leave the room. Instead he took another step towards the bed. He laid his hand on hers and sighed. His eyes never left hers and Cameron saw a change and was suddenly scared of what he was going to say. He stomach was churning and she could feel her heart rate quickening.

A thousand witty retorts raced through House's head as he stared into her olive green eyes, all he could think of saying was "I care about you too", but he didn't want to say it. He wanted to say, "You only care about me because you want to fix me and I can't be fixed." What he eventually said was: "Why?"

Cameron looked sadly at the man in front her. "Does it really matter?"

"Yes, else I wouldn't have asked the question" he said his voice sounding slightly patronizing.

"Your amazingly clever" she said, she could feel the chemistry between them. House looked stony faced but his thumb had started stroking up and down her bare arm defying his facial expressions and showing her his real feelings.

"You're handsome, you're a brilliant musician, you have beautiful eyes, I like… " House was grinning now. He reached out and put a finger on her lips.

"I get the picture" He said. Cameron could see the tenderness in his eyes and in the way that his finger that had touched his lips was now brushing against her cheek.

"I dreamt that you told me that you loved me," Cameron said her free hand now moving to House's face.

"It wasn't a dream," He said forgetting to be uncaring and sarcastic; and just saying what he knew should have been said before. Cameron just looked at him, puzzled.

"I came in and told you that I loved you", he said looked away.

Cameron felt her heart soar and put her hand under his stubbly chin and lifted his head so that their eyes met again. Cameron leant towards his face. She could smell his aftershave as she felt his hand move into her hair and their lips met. This kiss was so much more than the first time they had kissed. There was no syringe in her pocket this time and there was a deeper connection between them.

They moved apart, both of them smiling. House moved back towards her and kissed her again, more passionately than before.

A/N

Thanks you for all the brilliant reviews. I was a bit scared that my Britishness would show through so I hope there weren't any phrases people don't understand.

I wanted to end it like this before it got all soppy and too saccharine sweet.


End file.
